Musical accompaniment were jazzed up renditions that basically fit the art form like a glove with a stylish beat that usually pounded out the action as the story unfolded. The music set the mood and the audiences followed. Most of these films would never reach America during the era, even though they were generally aimed at the American film goers. The Actors who went to Italy and got involved in these lucrative new genre spinoffs all enjoyed star status, recognition and glow of the limelight that came with it. These are the Actors were talking about here.

The 1960s and 1970s were the heyday of spaghetti westerns—low-budget films about the early American West mostly filmed in Italy. Though sometimes derided as excessively violent imitations of American-made westerns, they attracted a substantial following that has endured. With its classic elements of gunfights, gambling, heroes, sidekicks, love, and death, the genre is now perceived by critics as an intriguing object of study. This book analyzes the construction of the stories presented in spaghetti westerns. It examines the content of the Italian western using concepts and constructs borrowed from scholars studying “pre-industrial” narratives. Plot, the constellation of characters, their relationship to each other, and their motives are studied. Films examined in detail include the seminal A Fistful of Dollars as well as Django, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. There is also a discussion of the early spaghetti westerns. The study then probes the elements of bounty hunters, the deprived hero, partnerships, betrayal, and comedy. An appendix details the top grossing Italian westerns between 1964 and 1975, including title, director, lead actor and intake. A second appendix provides a list of films quoted by Italian title and then by English title.

A new guide covering the spaghetti western genre, which not only made a star out of Clint Eastwood, Klaus Kinski, Lee Van Cleef and many others but was a major influence on such directors as Sam Peckinpah and Quentin Tarantino. Everything readers need to know in one handy volume.

This book identifies the most significant Spaghetti Westerns produced and the individuals who contributed to the genre, including actors Clint Eastwood, composers such as Ennio Morricone, and directors like Sergio Leone. The most memorable movies of the genre are also examined, including Django, A Fistful of Dollars, and They Call Me Trinity.

Spaghetti Westerns—mostly produced in Italy or by Italians but made throughout Europe—were bleaker, rougher, grittier imitations of Hollywood Westerns, focusing on heroes only slightly less evil than the villains. After a main filmography covering 558 Spaghetti Westerns, another section provides filmographies of personnel—actors and actresses, directors, musical composers, scriptwriters, cinematographers. Appendices provide lists of the popular Django films and the Sartana films, a listing of U.S.–made Spaghetti Western lookalikes, top ten and twenty lists and a list of the genre’s worst.

While the western was a staple of cinema for many decades, the form began to fade as its greatest star, John Wayne, made fewer films of distinction toward the end of his career. In the mid-1960s, the genre was redefined by a handful of directors, including Don Siegel and Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, who offered something edgier, bloodier, and more violent. Working with both directors was an actor who had made a name for himself on the small screen in the hit western Rawhide. While Clint Eastwood would also star in and direct a number of successes with contemporary settings, his work in westerns represents the most significant part of his film career. In The Clint Eastwood Westerns, James L. Neibaur takes a film-by-film look at each of the superstar’s signature works, from A Fistful of Dollars in 1964 to his modern-day classic Unforgiven, which earned him two Academy Awards, including best director. The author discusses in detail the production, impact, influences, and successes (both critical and commercial) of each film. In addition, Neibaur examines the continued success and influence of these works—how they redefined, challenged, and progressed the western genre. The book also features chapters that look at Eastwood’s other films in the context of his overall career. From the spaghetti westerns he made with Leone, including The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, to his revisionist look at the Old West in Unforgiven, The Clint Eastwood Westerns shines a spotlight on some of the most thrilling films of the genre. For devotees of Eastwood—the actor or director—or simply fans of the western, this book is an entertaining look at one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars.

Howard Hughes has written a well-researched, detailed, no-nonsense and above all enthusiastic guide to twenty of the best Italian Westerns from 'A Fistful of Dollars' to 'My name is Nobody'. He has aimed for the heart, and unlike the bad guy in 'Fistful' he has hit it.' - Christopher Frayling

This book traces the evolution of George Clooney's successful career, from his humble start as a television heartthrob to his current position as one of the most powerful figures in film making today. • A comprehensive review of the career of George Clooney • Critically rigorous but accessible writing style • A compilation of Clooney's work, including obscure work in television, films, and commercials • Expert analysis of genres, roles, and creative collaborations

The cinema has been the pre-eminent popular art form of the 20th century. In Cinemas of the World, James Chapman examines the relationship between film and society in the modern world: film as entertainment medium, film as a reflection of national cultures and preoccupations, film as an instrument of propaganda. He also explores two interrelated issues that have recurred throughout the history of cinema: the economic and cultural hegemony of Hollywood on the one hand, and, on the other, the attempts of film-makers elsewhere to establish indigenous national cinemas drawing on their own cultures and societies. Chapman examines the rise to dominance of Hollywood cinema in the silent and early sound periods. He discusses the characteristic themes of American movies from the Depression to the end of the Cold War especially those found in the western and film noir – genres that are often used as vehicles for exploring issues central to us society and politics. He looks at national cinemas in various European countries in the period between the end of the First World War and the end of the Second, which all exhibit the formal and aesthetic properties of modernism. The emergence of the so-called "new cinemas" of Europe and the wider world since 1960 are also explored. "Chapman is a tough-thinking, original writer . . . an engaging, excellent piece of work."—David Lancaster, Film and History